[cups] CUPS Disaster: printer queues going AOL or becoming disfunctional

Mon Jul 14 12:45:59 PDT 2014

At Mon, 14 Jul 2014 21:27:54 +0200 "The CUPS user discussion list." <cups at cups.org> wrote:

> 
> 
> Am 14.07.2014 um 21:04 schrieb Robert Heller:
> 
> > At Mon, 30 Jun 2014 11:07:03 +0200 (CEST) "The CUPS user discussion  
> > list." <cups at cups.org> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> On Jun 29 19:04 Robert Heller wrote (excerpt):
> >>> Printing a test page resulted in a
> >>> client-error-document-format-not-supported type of error.
> >>> Deleting and re-installing the print queues fixed it.
> >>> Why did this happen?
> >>> And why does re-installing the print queues fix it?
> >>
> >> At least for me impossible to find out from your information.
> >
> > OK, I did a *minor* update, updating these packages:
> >
> > Updated:
> >  gdb.x86_64 0:7.2-64.el6_5.2
> >  initscripts.x86_64 0:9.03.40-2.el6.centos.3
> >  libsmbclient.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
> >  lzo.x86_64 0:2.03-3.1.el6_5.1
> >  nfs-utils.x86_64 1:1.2.3-39.el6_5.3
> >  samba-client.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
> >  samba-common.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
> >  samba-winbind.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
> >  samba-winbind-clients.x86_64 0:3.6.9-169.el6_5
> >
> > *none* of these packages have anything to do with cups or any of the  
> > filters
> > involved.  I just tried to print a test page:
> >
> > newserver.wendellfreelibrary.org% lp /usr/share/cups/data/testprint
> > lp: Unsupported format 'application/vnd.cups-banner'!
> >
> > What is going on here?
> >
> > Also:
> >
> > newserver.wendellfreelibrary.org% lp login.ps
> > lp: Unsupported format 'application/postscript'!
> >
> > (login.ps is the result of 'a2ps .login -o login.ps')
> >
> > And it is a *PostScript* printer.  The *filter* should be like /bin/ 
> > cat,
> > right?
> >
> > This is in the error log:
> >
> > E [14/Jul/2014:14:34:56 -0400] Unable to remove temporary file "/var/ 
> > spool/cups/tmp/.fontconfig" - Is a directory
> > E [14/Jul/2014:14:35:02 -0400] Returning IPP client-error-document- 
> > format-not-supported for Send-Document (ipp://localhost:631/printers/ 
> > BlackandWhiteLaserjet) from localhost
> > E [14/Jul/2014:14:35:27 -0400] Unable to backup printers.conf -  
> > Permission denied
> > E [14/Jul/2014:14:35:27 -0400] Unable to save printers.conf -  
> > Permission denied
> > E [14/Jul/2014:14:35:27 -0400] Unable to restore printers.conf -  
> > Permission denied
> > E [14/Jul/2014:14:39:08 -0400] Returning IPP client-error-document- 
> > format-not-supported for Send-Document (ipp://localhost:631/printers/ 
> > BlackandWhiteLaserjet) from localhost
> >
> >
> >
> >>
> >>> (Longing for the good old days of LPD! -- CUPS can be a total pain
> >>> in the butt at times.)
> >>
> >> Using a LPD spooler won't help when the filtering fails.
> >>
> >> Regardless that CUPS reported the error, very likely the root cause
> >> is not CUPS itself but elsewhere - in particular because a
> >> "document-format-not-supported" error indicates that "something"
> >> with the filtering got "somehow" messed up.
> >>
> >> Usually it is not CUPS itself that converts the original data
> >> that your application had submitted as print job to CUPS.
> >> Actually CUPS calls various "external" programs that do the data
> >> conversion.
> >>
> >> When different CUPS versions in different Linux distribution versions
> >> make a difference regarding the filtering, the usual reason is not
> >> CUPS itself but that different Linux distributions use different
> >> "external" programs (or different versions of the "external"  
> >> programs).
> >>
> >> For example after printer driver software upgrades, the filtering for
> >> an existing print queue may no longer work because print queue's PPD
> >> may no longer match the upgraded driver software.
> >>
> >> I assume the root cause is "something" in the particular Linux  
> >> distributions
> >> that you use so that you may get better help from the particular  
> >> Linux
> >> distributions mailing lists whereto you also already reported your  
> >> issue.
> >>
> >>
> >> Kind Regards
> >> Johannes Meixner
> >
> > -- 
> > Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
> > Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
> > ()  ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail
> > /\  www.asciiribbon.org   -- against proprietary attachments
> >
> >
> >
> 
> It seems that the scheduler (cupsd) is not running as root  
> ("permission denied" in your error_log).
> I suspect the whole CUPS installation is broken.

newserver.wendellfreelibrary.org% ps aux | grep cupsd
root      9936  0.0  0.0 195956  4796 ?        Ss   14:34   0:01 cupsd -C /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
newserver.wendellfreelibrary.org% dir -ld /etc/cups
drwxr-xr-x. 5 root lp 4096 Jul 14 14:52 /etc/cups/
newserver.wendellfreelibrary.org% dir -ldZ /etc/cups
drwxr-xr-x. root lp system_u:object_r:cupsd_etc_t:s0 /etc/cups/

No, everything seems to be ok.  Note: SELINUX is enabled and enforcing.  It is 
the *stock* cups install from the distro's RPMs (CentOS 6.5).  It is not some 
hand built (from source) install or anything like that.

> 
> Helge
> 
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> 
>                                                                                               

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
()  ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail
/\  www.asciiribbon.org   -- against proprietary attachments